YPG Cool on U.S. Acquisitions

On the Yellow Pages Group (Canada) fourth-quarter earnings call today, CEO Marc Tellier was asked whether YPG had any interest in making acquisitions in the United States. The question was prompted by the steep sell-offs last week of Idearc Media, R.H. Donnelley and to a lesser degree Yell Group, which owns Yellow Book USA. Tellier responded that he would “never say never.” However, he was clearly cool to the idea of swooping in to buy up U.S. properties.

“Our focus is not on expanding geographically as we speak,” Tellier said in response to the question.

Among the key data points that came out on the call include that organic print directory growth was 2 percent for the fourth quarter and 2.5 percent for the full year. Total growth in directories was 4.8 percent in the fourth quarter and 5.3 percent for the full year. The company predicted an improvement in print directory growth in the second half of 2008.

YPG reached 10 percent of directory revenues from online in the fourth quarter and plans to hit 20 percent within three years. The directory business posted a 59.2 percent EBITDA margin for the year.

We will do a detailed write-up on the YPG results shortly.